TIRSO DE MOLINA.

The Trickster of Seville

Date and authorship

There are two versions of the play:

Tirso de Molina, El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (first publ. 1630)

Calderon, attrib., Tan largo me lo fiais (c. 1660?)

Both versions are imperfect and somewhat removed from the original play, probably written
between 1616 and 1625, possibly 1619?

Sources:

- Possible historical models:

 Don Pedro Téllez Girón. Duke of Ossuna (1579-1624), whose life is the
subject of Jean Mairet’s tragicomedy, Les Galanteries du duc d’Ossonne
(perf. 1632/1633)
 Don Juan de Tassis y Peralta, Count of Villamediana, supposedly
assassinated on the orders of the King in 1622. He was said to be a
compulsive womanizer and to have had an affair with the Queen. In fact,
as was discovered later, he was gay.

- A group of legends widely known throughout Europe of a young man on his way
to Church kicking/insulting a skull near a cemetery and inviting it to dinner

What is Don Juan’s offence?

- It is an offence against God, consisting in the assumption that the mercy of God
will be available to him, as it were on demand, and that there is no need to ask for
it until the very last moment
- Divine retribution can also be seen as a kind of blanket punishment covering a
range of other misdemeanours, most of them social
 Seduction perpetrated on women
 Violation of the laws of hospitality, friendship and honour

The play depicts a corrupt society bent on largely material pleasures, be it the pursuit of sex,
status or money.

How is Don Juan represented in the play?

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 - A protagonist in an auto sacramental: Man, who forgets God in the multiplication
of sensual experiences (with Cataliñon as the voice of Conscience or Reason, Don
Diego and the King as spokesmen for Divine Law, and the various women as
Woman, the ally of the Devil, standing for temptation)

- A temperament (amorous) or rather a humour (blood, hot and moist), associated

with the sign of Scorpio, said to arouse sexual desire, and with scorpions, symbols
of deception and treachery.

- A hardened sinner, who refuses to listen to the teachings of the Church and damns
himself through obstinacy and lack of genuine repentance and detestation of past
sins.
Unlike Molière’s protagonist, Tirso’s DJ is a believer. He doesn’t deny the
existence of God. He simply procrastinates.

- A factor of disorder, who threatens the fabric of society

 An individualist in a society thinking in terms of estates, orders and
corporations
 A rebel against authority, who flout parental wishes and royal orders
 A rebel against the law of the Father, who leads his acolytes into the same
rebellion of youth against power

- A diabolical figure, associated with darkness and Lucifer (II, 728-9; I, 300-1)

- A “locust”, the “scourge of women”, whose function is to punish those his actions
show as guilty, namely women, but also society in general, and to reveal
generalized corruption, hypocrisy and social compromising.
His actions expose the failure of kings, unable or unwilling to restore order.

The play is not so much a revolt against the taboos of an austere society as a condemnation of the
underlying laxity of apparently rigid moral standards.

Other, more modern interpretations of Don Juan

- Don Juan as a seducer? His success is often due to tricks, burlas, which do not
involve his physical charm, but rely on violence or hackneyed rhetoric.
- Still, he does have physical charm (he is “a noble, handsome, dashing fellow”;
“You speak a lot when you can barely speak” (I, 580, 609).

- Don Juan is a man who dares and whom difficulty spurs on to persevere. Even
“love” arises out of obstacles (the women have lovers, have just got married or
profess insensitivity to love). In fact, it is not the physical beauty of the woman or
the sensual pleasure of the encounter that matters but the challenge to ingenuity

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 and the conquest that provides the stimulation and the sense of triumph. He also
enjoys humiliating women by depriving them of their honour.

- Don Juan as an actor. The various seduction scenes involve a degree of play
acting. But to act is not just to play a part, but also to assert mastery and control
over the Other.

- Can DJ be regarded as an early modern existentialist ? The play explores DJ’s

desire to value the present and to enjoy it to the full, putting God, so to speak, in
brackets, in order to free life from what Nietzsche calls the weight of back-
worlds. The intensity of enjoyment is seen as a compensation for the brevity of
human existence. However, this carpe diem involves power and control.

Theological concepts in the play:

The theological lesson of the play revolves around the concepts of repentance and forgiveness.
Forgiveness can only be granted after genuine repentance. The timing of repentance is also
essential. Don Juan’s error to think “Plenty of time for me to pay that debt” (I, 904)

o Two kinds of repentance:

 Attrition: not a heartfelt sorrow but a selfishly motivated response due to
the fear of potential punishment. It is self-preserving and self-centred
 Contrition: God-centred heartfelt sorrow for offending the divinity and
other human beings. It is self-sacrificial and God-centred.

o Grace as the unmerited favour of God.

 Sufficient grace (grace given to all men)
 Efficacious grace (only effectually applied to those God has chosen to
save (Calvinism) or to those who actively work for their salvation)

The second banquet scene raises a number of questions. Why is DJ refused forgiveness at the
end and told there is “no time, my friend! No time! Your time runs out”?

- DJ continues to use deception. And tries to escape punishment by claiming he did

not rape Doña Ana. Similarly, his asking for confession could be another ploy.
- DJ tries to buy time by asking for confession.
- DJ doesn’t offer true repentance, at best attrition. He is only motivated by the fear
of punishment, not by detestation of his past sins.
- Even if his repentance is genuine, there is indeed no time because he has already
lost the world.

Why does Gonzalo disappear underground with DJ? Is he also dragged to Hell because he
doesn’t enjoy “the grace of God”? Did he die in mortal sin (see his dying words, in which he tells
DJ “you will not escape my vengeance”, II, 542)? Or is he saved and in Purgatory? In any case
he is the instrument of God’s justice, “the man through whom you meet your doom” (III, 954).